Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Summer Pyjamas and a Christmas Giveaway

Hello! I'm over on the Oliver + S blog today with a super simple idea for turning some great knit patterns into pyjamas.

The idea came about to use the Oliver + S School Bus T-Shirt and Playtime Leggings patterns to make pyjamas. Now there's nothing overly original in that, but in case you thought you needed a dedicated knit pyjamas pattern, I'm here to show you that you don't! Click the link above for the Oliver + S blog post.

My kids love wearing pyjamas made from stretch fabric - their Tron pyjamas are all time favourites, and so I thought it was time for some summer versions.

We'll start with P, 'cause you've just seen Flipper expertly modelling that same awesome Pacman fabric. Now check out the boy's moves... :)

Oh, and he's decided this one is his "signature move" (oh for goodness sake)

His are straight size 8 short sleeved School Bus tee and arbitrarily shortened size 8 Playtime leggings. The cuffs are 1 and 3/4 inches deep.

I had just enough of this fabulously fun Lillestoff knit for A's summer pyjamas and she wasn't going to be left out of the wacky poses game:

Hers are size 5 with the T-shirt hem length at size 6 length. I probably left the legs a bit too long, but hopefully they'll fit for a while like this.

So that was easy, quick and cute, but it didn't really convey the Christmas winter pyjama vibe that was the brief for the Oliver + S blog. Even though we have Christmas in the middle of summer, I kind of wanted to make some long sleeved, long legged pyjamas with a "holiday season" feel. Since joining the online sewing community I've learned of this idea of sewing a new pair of pyjamas for the kids for Christmas. Often they're very Christmassy fabrics and sometimes with a whole matching family of kids. Something that can ONLY be done with pyjamas in my book! :)

Off to Spotlight to see what they had on the knit table...

They actually have some really great looking knits there now. A lot of them look oddly similar to some of the "designer" knits that one might see on the interwebs. There were quite a few that would make gorgeous gender specific winter pyjamas but I fell hard for this faux cross stitched pattern.

Add in that it is delightfully soft and not too thin and I knew I had my Christmas in winter pyjama fabric.

The drawstring bag from Little Things To Sew is the perfect storage or gift bag to put a pair of Christmas pyjamas into. I already had the pattern pieces drafted (I've made the whole book, you see) and the scraps bucket yielded exactly the right navy and burgundy as well as some leftover embroidery thread.

My "make one extra pair just to be on theme" project was starting to get a bit elaborate. Of course it was!

I used DMC waste canvas to set out the cross stitch pattern and spent one lovely long evening on the couch stitching away. That stuff is so cool. Watching it dissolve and leave your stitching behind is like magic.

So there they are: One pair of size 5 winter knit Christmas pyjamas and a gift bag. Now they're of no use to us, so I had planned all along to share a bit of Christmas love and post them off to anyone who has an appropriately sized kid and who anticipates a Christmas without bush fires and heatwaves.

If you are a Christmas pyjama sewist and as bad as I am at planning ahead and allocating enough time for your projects then I strongly recommend going down the knit pyjama path. As much as I love a special pair of button up pyjamas they are a serious time drain when it comes to sewing hours.

If
you have, or know of, a little northern hemisphere tacker who might
like these for Christmas then throw your hat in the ring by using the
Gleam widget below. I'm happy to post them to anyone, anywhere in the
world, in order for them to be worn and loved.

Leave me a comment (don't forget an email address if you comment anonymously). As a suggestion for a comment, how about a short tale of your most last-minute, over-done holiday project.

Here's mine:
When I was first dating my husband, my sister-in-law decided that the colour theme for the Christmas table was to be "burnt orange' and I was to provide the crackers. Well of course burnt-orange crackers didn't exist, and after much hunting, I ended up staying up late, carefully covering dark silver crackers in a layer of orange cellophane and then retying the ribbons. The next day the table setting looked fantastic and my on theme crackers were much admired.
The time came to crack our crackers and I was introduced to how the sister in law's family did it which was to cross arms and form a giant circle around the table with a cracker end in each hand.
Then everyone just gently leaned back...
And nothing happened...
Cellophane is seriously strong stuff.
To break those suckers required two people pairing off in the centre of the room and performing what looked like an inverse Sumo wrestling match.
Personally I thought that was a lot more fun.

These are adorable and would work for my girl now and my boy when he gets older!

The first year I decided to make my daughter Christmas PJs, I was up until midnight the night before Christmas Eve trying to finish. She was only 2 and didn't care, but there was no way she wasn't going to have them by Christmas Eve! I'm pretty sure my husband thought I was crazy.

Isn't that true that we put all the pressure on ourselves. Still at least you slaved over pajamas that could be worn many times. It's the one and two year old birthday cakes that get me. All that effort when it's just going to be demolished. :)

Oh Sharon, you had me with "petrol tank pinata" :) that just sounds doomed from the start! I've found even papier mache pinatas take a decent amount of whacking. I remember thinking that next time I'd make some "releasing incisions" to weaken it. I can't begin to think how rusty and thin a petrol tank would need to be allowed to get...

I love to sew classic button down pajamas for Christmas but I keep postponing them - so much time consuming! I think I even skipped making these last year :( Probably, it's time I give knit pajamas a chance ;)

These would be perfect for my daughter as I'm struggling to find any in the shops, I would add them to my sewing list (you have inspired me to make matching ones while my kids are young enough to wear them) but I already have a advent calendar, a Building Blocks birthday dress, a Christmas quilt (carried over from last year) and countless presents to sew. I'm hoping this years Anna birthday cake won't be made at midnight like last years Elsa version too! Thanks for the inspiration!